


Heritage Unknown

by M1dn1ght_Star



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Creature Fic, Creature Inheritances, F/F, For once only Dumbles bashing and no other chars, Fred and George are the children of the prewett twins and reggie, Harry is actually Ophion, If you know me at all you shouldn't be surpised lol, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Mpreg in the prologue, Multi, Past Kidnapping, The weasley twins are not actually weasleys, do not copy to another site, dumbles bashing, mentions of mpreg, the founders are alive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:00:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 17,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27603865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M1dn1ght_Star/pseuds/M1dn1ght_Star
Summary: "Casting several layers of heavy spells over the tiny child, Dumbledore made sure the baby would seem human instead of the half serpent form he had been born into. Choosing a random generic name for the boy in the form of Harry, he took the child to James and Lily Potter who had recently discovered that they were unable to have children.  James and Lily had adopted Harry as their son, having been told that he had lost his parents in a death eater raid. Then he spent some time writing a dramatic sounding prophecy and compelled Sybil Trelawney to perform it in a public space so it would be overheard by the right person. It worked perfectly and Voldemort became obsessed with his ‘prophesied’ defeat, going after the boy and killing his parents."Excerpt from the story prologue
Relationships: Godric Gryffindor/Salazar Slytherin, Harry Potter/Fred Weasley/George Weasley, Helga Hufflepuff/Rowena Ravenclaw, Hermione Granger/Neville Longbottom, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Regulus Black/Gideon Prewett/Fabian Prewett, Viktor Krum/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 124
Kudos: 327
Collections: Fics that I want to read once they are complete





	1. Story Idea by LordDracon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LordDracon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordDracon/gifts).



> Story idea was the winner of a competition for my readers. The winning entry is the first chapter and I have altered small parts to make it work for my musey.
> 
> -
> 
> Haven't written the entirety of the actual story yet but its gonna be one very long chapter :)
> 
> what was that? No its gonna be 3 parts
> 
> sorry did I say something? I meant my brain said ha you thought and Idk but its gonna be long -_-

"All 4 founders are still technically alive

Salazar is the Basilisk animagus

Godric is the giant squid

Rowena is fawkes the Phoenix

Helga became the castle like in monster house

Harry James Potter was actually born Septimus Godric Slytherin the first son of Godric and Salazar with salazar having been unknowingly pregnant before he shifted to hibernate in the Chamber. Salazar wakes up to stomache cramps and feeling much larger than he was when he started hibernating. Before he can get his bearings his body has expelled 2 eggs and he can feel a third coming. Without thinking he shifts back to human, finding himself very pregnant and in labor he panics and calls for a hogwarts house elf to bring his husband. Unfortunately Dumbledore had bound all of the hogwarts house elves to his will and instead went to see who had called the house elf. When he entered the chamber Salazar had already moved the 2 eggs into a side room with stasis charms on them to keep them safe so Dumbledore didn't see them.

I'm rambling so I'm gonna try just giving the rest as just events

Dumbledore enchants salazar and after "harry" is born as a emerald naga Dumbledore spells him into human form and drops him off with James and lily potter who found out that james was sterile. James and lily blood adopted him as their son. Story is like normal, voldemort kills them and harry goes to petunia.

When hagrid takes him to gringotts the spell on harry that bound him into a human form had weakened and the wards around gringotts broke it and with his naga form breaking through all the blocks place on his magic and mates by Dumbledore started cause intense pain so the goblin have to interfere to remove them.

His mates are fred and George who are the twin sons of Fabian and Gideon prewett that were taken by Molly when she found out her brothers had kids with regulus black because she refused to have them raised by homosexuals.

Fred and George are dark kitsunes, the prewet twins were kitsunes and regulus was a hellhound.

James was the unknown heir of hufflepuff and lily was the heir of ravenclaw that was thought to have died out but continued as a squib line. Sowoth the blood adoption harry is heir to all 4 founders.

I burned myself out just thinking of all this so just a few last things.

Manipulative Dumbledore

Ron, Hermione, and ginny are other children kidnapped from "dark" families by dumbledore and brainwashed.

Cedric gets stunned by harry so the killing curse misses him and ends up pledging his life to harry for saving his life

Krum I kinda wanna see with a guy, maybe malfoy?”


	2. Prologue: A Troubled Birth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to break it into 3 parts to have the story flow better, this is the prologue. The story and epilogue will most likely be posted together so I project next week as being the publishing date as this is going to be a lengthy fic.
> 
> Forget about that, I'm breaking the main story up :)

Salazar shifted in discomfort, his large coils making a quiet sound against the stone floor of the chamber. He was deep in sleep, having been hibernating in his animagus form since the four founders had decided to leave the running of their school Honwood, named after Helga’s brother who had died trying to save a young witch from being burned at the stake, to their friend Aquila Black. The lake on the school grounds had been named after him, in whose watery depths Salazar’s bonded Godric drifted in his squid form. Helga and Rowena were inhabiting the castle itself and the form of a phoenix respectively. Unfortunately, that meant that Helga was trapped while the others could change back at will. She had been unable to accomplish an animagus form and it was the choice that she had made in order to live on with them.

The enormous basilisk twitched again and rose from its slumber, a giant golden eye cracked open as Salazar woke up, filled with panic as he realized what was going on. Here he was without his bonded, going into labor alone in the Snake Chamber. He must’ve been in the very early stages of pregnancy when the founders had turned into their sleeping forms and since not much was known about basilisks life cycles and mating, it must have taken however long he was asleep before it was time to give birth. He realized that he already had two eggs and another was definitely on the way.

Terrified and not sure what to do, having never had children before, Salazar shifted back to his naga form and moved quickly to hide the two eggs in a smaller hidden room on one side, putting them under a stasis spell to protect them. He had no idea how much time had passed and his instincts pushed him to make sure his hatchlings were safe. After doing this and collapsing to the ground as he was now in labor in his naga form, Salazar called for one of the house elves, hoping they could bring him his mate.

Minutes passed and Salazar was worried that the school was abandoned or had been destroyed, that there were no elves left and he was all alone. He had given birth to his third child by this time, which he knew instinctively was the last, and named him Ophion Godric Slytherin, whose name was accepted by Magic and was now official. The sound of footsteps had him slumping in relief, but then a stranger strode into the room. Before he could say anything, a wand was directed towards him and everything faded into fog. Indistinct speech could be heard from what seemed like far above him and then the world went blank.

Albus Dumbledore stood over the unconscious body on the floor, puzzling out who this part snake creature was. It must be Salazar Slytherin, for no one else could get into the chamber. He couldn’t let the man go free, as they would likely mess up his carefully laid plans to divide the Hogwarts houses. Dumbledore stared at the newborn child that the house elf was now caring for. Plans came together in his head and he smiled. That would make a perfect distraction for Tom. 

Casting several layers of heavy spells over the tiny child, Dumbledore made sure the baby would seem human instead of the half serpent form he had been born into. Choosing a random generic name for the boy in the form of Harry, he took the child to James and Lily Potter who had recently discovered that they were unable to have children. James and Lily had adopted Harry as their son, having been told that he had lost his parents in a death eater raid. Then he spent some time writing a dramatic sounding prophecy and compelled Sybil Trelawney to perform it in a public space so it would be overheard by the right person. It worked perfectly and Voldemort became obsessed with his ‘prophesied’ defeat, going after the boy and killing his parents. 

Surprisingly, the boy survived the encounter and ‘killed’ Tom, something Dumbledore wasn’t too upset about as he could continue to use him in later plans and the baby had given him more time to work on defeating Voldemort while he was distracted with trying to get a body back. And, well, threats against one’s child could be useful when trying to get information out of Slytherin. Young Harry was shipped off to live with Lily’s muggle sister who hated magic and Dumbledore took a week long vacation to relax before he got back to working on his schemes to gain the power he deserved.


	3. Ch 1 Main Story - A Naga's Tale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain snatched my idea of writing one very long chapter and tossed it into a fire so-
> 
> get ready for me to write another really long multi-chapter fic :D

Harry Potter gaped at the enormous marble building in front of him. He hurried to catch up with Hagrid as the enormous man disappeared through the large front doors of Gringotts and stumbled as soon as he crossed the threshold, feeling a huge pressure squeezing him. Harry collapsed to the ground and nearby goblins exchanged alarmed looks before hurrying to take him out of sight of the other wixen in the bank. Hagrid turned around, hearing a noise, but saw nothing except for the fact that he’d managed to lose his charge in the crowd. His eyes widened and the half-giant frantically scanned the room, terrified that Dumbledore would be mad at him for losing the Boy-Who-Lived.

As the party of 8 goblins raced down corridor after corridor towards a healing chamber, Harry let out a cry of pain as something snapped deep inside him and there was a rush of stinging magic over his limp form. His legs melted together and the pale skin vanished under shimmering green scales, while he grew several inches in height and the scar on his forehand faded until it could barely be seen.

Stumbling under the sudden change of the child they were carrying, the goblins barely managed to make it to the senior healer, who barked out commands as she began scanning Harry’s body with a glowing orb. She discovered a recently broken lock on his physical appearance and form, along with a limiter on his magic and a faint pair of strings that had to be his mate bond. 

The goblins who had brought him to the room were swiftly shooed out by one of the other healers, who told them to alert the manager of the bank to the circumstances. It was mere minutes before Ragnok strode into the chamber, clutching a roll of parchment and an athame. Harry was sitting up now, having mostly recovered from the surge of magic when the blocks had broken, or shattered in the glamour’s case.

“I believe an inheritance test would be in order.” Ragnok said, briefly explaining what such a thing was to the young boy before offering the athame to him and placing the parchment down in front of Harry.

Three drops of blood fell one by one into the paper, vanishing as they were absorbed before the entire parchment turned red and letters appeared in shimmering white. Ophion Godric Slytherin wrote itself across the paper in an elegant curving hand and everyone stared at it in silence for a minute as additional writing added itself underneath the name.

When the parchment finally stopped writing, it read, “Ophion Godric Slytherin, Emerald Naga, firstborn of Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor, mates Fred and George Prewett-Black. Legal claim to Potter and Peverell vaults through adoption by James and Lily Potter. True parents living, location Honwood School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Illegal guardianship claim by Albus Dumbledore, rejected by Magic but publically believed.”

Harry rubbed his eyes, convinced he must be seeing things. He wasn’t actually Harry Potter? He was adopted? He was a naga? When he looked up, the expressions of the goblins clued him into the fact that he was likely missing something huge.

“Can someone perhaps explain this to me?” He asked uncertainly, looking at the goblin who he thought was called Ragnok. After a moment, Ragnok nodded, gazing at him with something complicated in his eyes. 

“The founders of Honwood, now called Hogwarts for some reason, were Salazar Slytherin, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. They went into a state of sleep in order to be there for the school when needed, though this fact has been forgotten and all sorts of misinformation has circulated throughout the centuries. You should be able to find them once you start school in a week, as the castle itself is Helga, so she will help you. I think she is still sleeping most of the time, so you might need to wake her and get her attention first.” Ragnok explained, staring into the distance. “As for your creature and mates, I think your parents should be the ones to explain that to you, but I’ll just say that magical creatures having mates is similar to the mundane concept of soulmates. The Potters adopted you during a war, so they didn’t come into the bank, otherwise we would have realized your true identity and stopped it from happening.”

“Can I-” Harry gestured towards a corner vaguely, mind a jumbled mess from the information overload he had just received.

“Of course, take a moment to process this information. After this, we shall go over how to proceed with the situation. You should take the test with you to show your parents, I will magically seal it so that no one can take it or open it except for your family.” Ragnok said, nodding as he gathered the paper up and moved towards a table in the corner, dripping some silvery substance on it after rolling it up. The silver glowed and a chime rang throughout the room before the roll of parchment shimmered and froze as if it was coated in a hard, invisible shell.

After the break, it was decided that Ophion, which Harry had decided to start using, as he liked it better than his adopted name and it felt  _ right _ in an unexplainable way, would stay in a private room at Gringotts for the rest of the time until it was the day of the Hogwarts Express. His supplies were collected by a bank employee called Bill, who wasn’t informed who he was shopping for, only given a list of items to collect. 

Ragnok had recommended he use an ancient naga talisman from the Slytherin vault to hide his tail and said that Dumbledore wouldn’t recognize him without connecting his true name to him, as the last time he had seen Ophion was as a newborn. They also invoked an old ritual to ask Magic to obscure anyone from remembering that Harry Potter was Ophion Slytherin, even Dumbledore, so he would be safe from whatever the man had likely planned when he was stuck in the mundane world with neglectful ‘guardians’. And so it was with new confidence that Ophion Godric Slytherin departed the bank at the end of the week, featherlight chest in his arms and a happy smile on his face.


	4. Ch 2 Main Story - Journey to Honwood

Ophion thanked the red haired twins who had offered to assist him with his trunk, but told them he was fine by himself and that he was using a featherlight charm. He also inquired after their names and then stared in shock when they introduced themselves. Ophion had never expected to meet his mates so quickly, he had mostly forgotten about them for the time being to be honest, and now he was standing frozen a foot away from them.

“Err, I’m Ophion.” He said after finally managing to break himself out of his stupor, purposefully leaving out his surname as they were currently standing in the middle of a busy platform and he didn’t feel like advertising his identity before it was necessary. He had done a lot of reading during his time at the bank and felt much more prepared to begin his life in the magical world.

The twins' eyes grew wide as they realized why he had been so surprised and exchanged a look before requesting that he share a compartment with them and their friend Lee Jordan. Ophion accepted their offer and followed them down the train to an empty compartment in the middle. Lee popped his head in a moment later to let the twins know he was going to hang out with a couple of other Gryffindors, which was the house all three of the older boys were in.

Most of the train ride was spent getting to know one another better and Ophion learned that Fred and George were the sons of Fabian and Gideon Prewett and Regulus Black, and they were taken in by their aunt Molly and her husband Arthur Weasley after all three of their parents were killed in the war. The twins were dark kitsunes, as their parents had been kitsunes and a hellhound. A lot of people always seemed to think they were Weasleys for some reason, so they often had to set people straight.

Ophion shared that he was the child of Salazar and Godric and emphasized how he didn’t want that information to be public right now, before talking about more general things and shifting the topic towards Honwood. The twins were confused at first but he explained that Hogwarts wasn’t the school’s real name and soon they were using the proper name Honwood instead, finding it amusing that they could confuse everyone while they did so.

Time flew past and soon it was time to disembark from the train. Ophion was in between the twins and all three had clasped hands as they went up the path, reluctantly letting go as the first years were required to use the boats. Ophion winked at the twins before loudly proclaiming his fear of water and clinging dramatically onto a tall boy with blonde hair, who seemed amused. Fred and George grinned at their mate before they went to join Lee in one of the carriages.

Ophion and the blonde boy, who introduced himself as Draco Malfoy, talked quietly on the journey across the lake. The third student in their boat, a quiet blonde girl who had introduced herself briefly as Daphne, chose to stare out across the water silently instead of joining their conversation.

Arriving at the castle through some sort of cave, the first years piled out of the boats and smoothed down their robes and wind-ruffled hair, trying to make themselves presentable. A stern looking woman in bottle-green robes led them into an enormous chamber whose roof was at least 30 feet above them and shimmered with stars, giving the illusion that there wasn’t a ceiling at all but instead the room simply opened up to the night sky. 

McGonagall, the woman who had brought them into the hall, was now standing by a stool with a hat on it. The hat sang a song about all the different houses, looking like it wanted to do nothing more than escape with a displeased expression on its worn face. Ophion wondered if perhaps the hat was forced to sing each year, but was distracted by McGonagall beginning to call out the new students’ names alphabetically.

Most of the names Ophion didn’t recognize, and he shifted impatiently as he waited for his turn. His legs were getting tired of standing still and he mostly tuned out all of the house announcements, letting them flow in one ear and out the other. Seamus Finnegan, Gryffindor. Hermione Granger, Ravenclaw. Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin. Morag MacDougal, Ravenclaw. And finally it was his turn.

“Ophion Slytherin!” McGonagall announced, voice just slightly different in tone from surprise at seeing the surname on her list. The entire hall snapped to attention, staring at the boy who was now taking a seat on the stool. The hat sat there for a second before announcing Slytherin, triggering deafening cheers from the students of the serpent house and polite applause from a small portion of the other students.

Getting off the stool, Ophion smiled briefly and nodded to McGonagall before moving to take a seat next to Draco. McGonagall cleared her throat to silence the loud whispering before announcing the final few names on her list. Dean Thomas was sorted into Gryffindor, and then Ron Weasley went to Gryffindor as well.

Dumbledore clapped loudly and gave some announcements before starting the feast. The Headmaster sat quietly in his chair at the staff table and watched the Slytherin boy talk with his new housemates, mind whirling as he adjusted and added plans to the tangled web of his manipulations, which now had some odd spots like something was missing.


	5. Ch 3 Main Story - Welcome Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me forever to decide on a common room password lol
> 
> So sharing/reminding of background on Aquila, he was the first headmaster of Hogwarts after the founders went to sleep and the Black Lake is named after him. Aquila was friends with the founders, similar to how Ragnok was friends with them.

After the feast concluded, the prefects of each house led their respective students back to their common room, sharing interesting commentary about the school and castle on the way. Ophion walked next to Draco and a quiet boy named Theo, following a Slytherin prefect who had introduced herself as Gemma Farley back in the Great Hall. Many of the other Slytherin students kept glancing towards Ophion and talking quietly, and he suppressed an annoyed sigh at how obvious it was that there was little chance he’d have a peaceful evening after the long, tiring day. Hopefully, he’d at least have his friends with him to make it less painful.

Stepping through the wall after Theo and shivering at the odd sensation of his body moving through stone like it was air, Ophion looked around at the Slytherin common room, taking in the cozy decor and the large portrait of a man that was hanging on the wall by the fire. He moved to stand near the portrait as everyone silenced themselves, attention on the tall figure who had entered the room from another door.

“Good evening, Slytherins. I am Professor Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House. There is a notice board by the entrance to the common room. Make sure to check it daily for information. This week's password is Aesculapius. Do not share it with anyone outside of this house or you will come to regret it after serving detention scrubbing cauldrons for a week. This room is a safe space, I will not tolerate discrimination or bullying. If you want to fight, take it to the dueling room, but never show discord outside of these walls. We as Slytherins must stand united.” Snape said, gazing across the room and making eye contact with all the students. 

“Am I understood?” Snape asked, folding his arms and staring down two whispering first year girls. A chorus of agreement filled the room and he nodded before gesturing to the prefects to continue, vanishing back through the door into what was likely his office.

As Gemma started talking about room arrangements, Ophion heard a noise and turned to see the man in the portrait staring at him as if he’d seen a ghost. “You look exactly like my old friend Salazar, but with hints of Godric. How-”

Ophion blushed and glanced around to make sure no one was listening before he responded quietly, “Those are my parents. Ophion Godric Slytherin, sir.”

The man stared at him, his brown eyes wide in surprise. “My word, but how? They never had children before going into stasis.” He replied, clearly shocked. A glance at the label underneath the portrait revealed that his name was Lord Aquila Black.

“Err, I’m not exactly sure about that myself, I was kidnapped as a baby.” Ophion said.

“Well, if you are indeed Salazar’s heir, there is a private room for you. Simply speak to the snake by the fireplace-” Aquila stopped suddenly, as if he was listening to something only he could hear before his attention returned to Ophion. “I must go, but I would enjoy speaking with you again later.” The Lord Black vanished from the frame, leaving an empty background.

Ophion blinked in surprise before shaking his head and turning back to face the prefects. They seemed to have just finished speaking and everyone was heading towards the entrance to the dorms. He moved to follow before spotting a carving of a snake on the wall by the fireplace and remembered what Aquila had said.

“Hello, snake.” He greeted it, unaware that he was no longer speaking English and that the other students had stopped to watch him in fascination.

It’s stone eye opened, revealing an emerald gem, and it responded to him. “Heir Slytherin, welcome. It’s an honor to finally meet you.” The snake’s head dipped as if it was bowing to him and then the body of the snake shifted to form a door handle on the wall. Ophion turned to wave goodbye to Draco and Theo, who were standing near the stairs with their jaws on the floor, before opening the door and entering the room, closing it behind him.

Inside, he found a generously sized bedroom with a desk and chest of drawers on one side and an enormous bed on the other. There weren’t any windows, however there was a single door by the desk that led to a private bathroom. A fluffy snake plush was propped against the pillows of the bed. Everything was decorated in soft shades of green, silver, and brown. 

Ophion gazed at everything in awe, the room was huge compared to what he was used to at the Dursleys, having to sleep surrounded by broken toys on an old mattress. His eyes caught on the plushie and he almost cried when he picked it up and squished it against his chest, never having had a stuffed animal of his own before. The closest was the one armed teddy bear he’d snuck out of the trash when he was 5 or 6, which had been quickly taken away by his aunt when she found him playing with it.

Sitting down on the bed reminded him of how tired he was, and his eyes drooped as sleepiness washed over him. Changing quickly into a pair of pajamas that Ragnok had gifted him along with most of a new wardrobe after learning just how dismal his living standards were, Ophion cuddled the snake plushie close as he melted into the warm, soft sheets, fast asleep.


	6. Ch 4 Main Story - Falling Into Place

Blinking sleepily as he yawned, Ophion opened his eyes and saw the beautiful room around him, momentarily disoriented before the events of yesterday settled back in their place in his mind. He sat up slowly, still holding the snake plushie who now bore the title of Basil, like a Basilisk that Ophion had read about one time in primary school.

Remembering Ragnok’s words from a week ago, Ophion hopped out of bed, filled with sudden energy at the idea of finally meeting his parents. He got dressed and packed a bag with things he might need, like his wand and the parchment from Gringotts. It was still early and a Saturday without classes, so everyone else was likely still asleep, making it the perfect time to move around the castle unhindered.

Tucking Basil into his bag for good luck, Ophion opened the door that led back out into the common room slowly and looked through the crack to make sure there was no one there. Seeing the deserted room, he swiftly slipped out of his room and closed the door behind him, waving to the snake carving as he made a beeline for the common room exit.

He moved through the empty halls quietly, letting his feet guide him and his instincts carry him to the right place. This evidently was not in the dungeons as he climbed several flights of stairs and followed a tug of sorts along the ground floor past a room he assumed had to be the kitchens due to his hearing faint sounds of cooking as he went past.

Ophion eventually came to a halt outside a closed door that seemed old and worn, made out of simple golden brown wood. He tilted his head a bit as he observed it and caught sight of a faint carving of an H in the top right corner. H for Hufflepuff or for Honwood? Either way, he knew instinctively that this was the right place. 

Reaching out to touch the doorknob, he moved backwards, startled, when the door melted away as soon as his fingers made contact. It vanished, revealing an empty room with a yellow and black intricately patterned rug.

“Lady Hufflepuff?” Ophion called uncertainly, glancing around as he stepped into the room. There was a soft sound of shifting stones and the wall shimmered before a painting appeared. A blonde haired woman was sitting on a picnic cloth outside by a forest, looking at him in fascination with kind brown eyes. 

“A Honwood heir… after all this time.” She said softly, almost to herself. “I am Lady Hufflepuff, yes. How can I help you, young one?” 

“I’m Ophion Godric Slytherin, ma’am. I only recently found out about this as I was kidnapped from my parents as a baby. Mr. Ragnok at the bank told me about you a little… He said you could help me find them?” Ophion replied, gazing shyly at his feet before looking at her hopefully.

“Yes, I will search the castle for them. I think-” Hufflepuff frowned, cutting herself off as she pulled at some tangled threads at the hem of her dress. She took a firm hold of an ugly brown one and cut it with some scissors, freeing a blue and bronze twisted wire from its thorned knot.

There was a flash of light and a golden red bird appeared in the room, startling Ophion. Shimmering light washed over it and then a woman stood in its place. She had long black hair twisted into a braid and stunning silver eyes. Shaking herself, the woman moved towards the portrait and reached out a hand, somehow reaching into the painting itself to take the free hand of Helga. 

“Thank you, love. That bastard managed to trap me and it was taking far too long to unravel the forced bond by myself.” The woman said. She seemed to notice Ophion for the first time and her eyes widened. “Is this?”

“Yes, it is. His name is Ophion, Rowena darling.” Helga said.

Rowena. That must mean that this was Lady Ravenclaw, the other founder of Honwood. Ragnok had told him that she was the bonded of Lady Hufflepuff.

“We will work on locating your parents, but you should go and spend breakfast in the Great Hall. They are going to be looking for you and it will be odd if you are missing the first day.” Helga said, smiling warmly at Ophion.

He nodded and reluctantly left the room, closing the door behind him, which had reappeared and was now standing ajar. Retracing his footsteps back through the castle, Ophion slipped back into the common room and sat down in one of the chairs by the fire with a book just in time for Draco to appear from the dorms, with Theo and another boy in tow. 

The unknown Slytherin first year introduced themselves as Blaise Zambini and he seemed to be friendly enough. He and Draco did most of the talking on the walk to the Great Hall for breakfast, while Theo and Ophion walked behind them, listening and occasionally adding their own comments.

Sitting down in an empty area on the end of the Slytherin table nearest the doors, Ophion filled his plate with fruit and some toast, preferring to eat a light breakfast. Theo sat on his right and Draco on his left, with Blaise across the table from them. Daphne from the boat ride came into the Great Hall and greeted him quietly, taking a seat with her friend Tracey Davis next to Blaise. Ophion was happy with the seating arrangement, as it meant he was mostly protected from having to interact with other students unless he wanted to, and enjoyed his meal with his new friends before they headed back to the common room to relax.

Draco asked him about his room and he told them about it, willing to share information in order to deny them from actually going inside unless he invited them. Ophion also showed them Basil, which Theo promptly dubbed Noodles, and the group of friends spent the morning talking and reading.

Several other first year Slytherins introduced themselves, but only Pansy Parkinton seemed to really fit well into the group, and Ophion felt uncomfortable talking to the older Slytherins the most part, though he did have a nice conversation with Gemma about classes and professors around lunch time.

He was asked many times about being Heir Slytherin and speaking parseltongue and such and after answering politely a couple times, decided to retreat to his room, where he read ahead in most of his textbooks and decided that self studying for History of Magic was likely a good idea based off of Gemma’s comments about Professor Binns.

Far across the castle, in a high tower, Dumbledore stared out the lone window from his sitting position at his desk, leaning over a seemingly endless pile of papers. He hadn’t been able to slip away to visit Salazar yet, having been bombarded with floo calls and medical cases as was per usual for the first night at Hogwarts, and hadn’t gotten much sleep either.

Everything seemed to be changing and going wrong all of a sudden, first the mysterious appearance of the Slytherin boy, then his phoenix had vanished from his office without permission, something that shouldn’t be possible. Fawkes was bonded to him, he wasn’t allowed to leave. So how had he done it? Dumbledore of course was missing a great amount of information as he tried to understand the situation, so it was no wonder nothing fit together in his puzzle missing ¾ of the pieces. He’d never even realized that Fawkes was female, though, so maybe he just had bad observation skills or something.


	7. Ch 5 Main Story - Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's right! It's parent time :)

The next day was a Sunday, the last day before classes would start, and Ophion grinned as he found himself in the middle of a Prewitt-Black twin sandwich, walking down the hall from the library that he had been exploring. Fred and George greeted him cheerfully and asked him how his first day at the castle had gone, listening in interest as Ophion told them about the room he had and the friends he’d made. He chose to leave the information about his parents a secret for now, not because he didn’t trust the twins but rather because it was very personal to him and he wanted it to be just his to know about for a little longer.

Lee Jordan joined them as they went past the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room, which the twins had pointed out on a little mini tour they had given him, and seemed excited to get to know Ophion because he got along well with George and Fred. Jordan also stared down any whispering or curious students who looked like they might try and approach Ophion, but many seemed to be mostly interested in the friendship between Gryffindors and a Slytherin.

After they arrived at the Entrance Hall, Ophion said goodbye to the Gryffindor trio and slipped down the hallway he’d found on Saturday, back to the room Hufflepuff was in. When he entered this time, Rowena was in her phoenix form and perched on a wooden stand that had not been there previously, while Helga was braiding her long hair in the painting.

She greeted him warmly after seeing him enter and told him that she had located his parents. “Godric is still in the lake where he first went into stasis, and Salazar is in his chamber. Godric is perfectly fine in his squid form and we can easily reach him. Unfortunately, someone has tried to layer malicious spells on your bearer.” Helga explained, a frown on her face as she pointed out different brown and reddish purple threads tangled around the green and silver band on her sleeve.

“Does that mean we can’t rescue him?” Ophion asked, worried.

“No, Rowena and I should be able to overpower it. We might need Godric’s help though, so I recommend retrieving him first.” Helga responded, tossing her long braid over her shoulder and standing up. She nodded to Rowena, who changed back to human form with a flash before moving to tap something on the corner of the painting, shrinking it down to a handheld size. Magic just got cooler and cooler every time Ophion blinked, it seemed.

The trio made their way across the castle and oddly, no one seemed to notice them or wonder who the stranger was, despite Rowena’s elegant formal but very anciently styled dress and the fact that she was accompanied by the descendent of Slytherin. Helga had used a localized notice me not variation that moved with them, something Ophion hadn’t learned about yet as classes hadn’t started and he grew up in the mundane world.

Outside, they walked swiftly towards the lake, where Rowena bent down and touched the water with her wand, a dark and intricately carved piece of wood that she had made herself. There was an odd tingling sensation that traveled through Ophion’s body, who had been accidentally touching the water himself with his foot, and then a dark shape rose up through the water, swirling distortedly before morphing into a smaller human body as it broke the water.

Ophion’s eyes darted across the man’s face, taking in his strong features and tan skin that surrounded sparkling green eyes the same shade as his own. It was the first time he had seen his father, as Ragnok sadly didn’t have any images of them to show him at the bank.

Rowena and Helga, now placed leaning against a tree in a medium size, were talking quietly with Godric after he had stepped out of the water, and Ophion hung back shyly as they spoke, uncertain about how he should act. He could tell exactly when the other two founders informed Godric about his son as his father’s head whipped towards where he was standing, looking shocked but awed at the same time. 

“Ophion?” He said quietly, running a hand through his wet hair as he walked slowly towards his son. Godric reached out slowly, as if he couldn’t quite believe he was real, before pulling Ophion into a gentle hug. He relaxed in his father’s arms, uncaring of the wet clothes that were pressed against his forehead.

After a moment, Rowena gently cleared her throat and reminded them that they needed to get Salazar, which caught Godric’s attention and he nodded in agreement, releasing his son before focusing for a moment with a hand outstretched towards the air. There was a swooshing sound and then a gleaming sword inlaid with red gems at the hilt appeared, landing in his firm grip with a pleased chime.

The group returned to the castle, moving downwards this time into the heart of the dungeons where Godric stopped at a faint carving of a snake on a crumbling wall. “The password is Ashwinder in parseltongue.” He said, looking expectantly towards Ophion, who was confused for a moment before he realized that parseltongue must be what speaking to snakes was called.

Nodding, Ophion stepped forwards and hissed the password, allowing the founders to enter the small tunnel that opened first as they would be the ones dismantling the harmful magic in the chamber. Godric’s sword shone faintly in the dim candlelight of the tunnel, lighting the way for the four wixen as they emerged into a small room, wrapped in protective magic that was tangible to all of them. His keen eyes spotted something in a corner of the room and Godric let out a gasp, sword clanging to the ground as he rushed to where two eggs were nestled in some warm blankets.

“I think these are your siblings..” Gryffindor breathed, carefully lifting the eggs with his wand and tucking them safely into the expanded space of the bag Rowena had given him. Ophion watched him in wonder, having always wanted a brother or sister like many of the other children in his neighborhood had. He also wondered if he had been born from an egg or not.

Rowena called them over to a small door, which she opened carefully to point out a figure slumped against a wall in the main chamber. Helga growled something not fit for polite company under her breath and viciously snipped at the various thorns imprisoning Slytherin’s thread on her sleeve while Rowena and Godric joined hands and traced runes in the air before pushing them across to land on Slytherin’s unconscious form. 

It took them several minutes before Helga let out a cheer and Ravenclaw and Gryffindor smiled, releasing each other’s hand as Godric rushed forwards to scoop up Salazar. Rowena held out a hand to Ophion, who quietly took it and walked with her into the chamber as Helga continued to fiddle with weaving something on the middle of her sleeve from where her painting was tucked in Rowena’s belt.

Salazar seemed to be waking up slowly and his emerald tail that looked almost identical to Ophion’s own curled tightly around Godric’s waist as his eyes fluttered open. “Godric?” He murmured before his eyes widened, remembering what had happened. “Godric! Someone took my baby, Ophion, the other two are safe in the side chamber but Ophion was stolen by an old man.” He shifted, trying to move out of Godric’s arms and almost fell before stopping as he saw his son, now much older than he remembered, standing shyly next to Rowena. Salazar swallowed before asking softly, “How long?”

“11 years, love. They are all safe now.” Godric replied in the same tone, gently catching the shaking hand his bonded had lifted and pressing a kiss to it as he set him down, steadying him as Salazar stumbled briefly. The two brought Ophion into their arms, enfolding him into a desperate hug, reassuring Salazar that it was alright. 

Everyone moved through another tunnel to a room that branched off to 7 different doors. Opening one near the tunnel exit, Godric took Salazar into their bedroom while Rowena showed Ophion the tunnel that opened into the Slytherin heir room he had been sleeping in already. Once he was settled in bed, Rowena brought Helga’s painting into their own room and hung her carefully on the wall, smiling fondly at her bonded.

The rest of the morning was spent in quiet cuddles and Ophion took a short nap before they reconvened for lunch together in the main room, choosing to ignore that Ophion should’ve been in the Great Hall. He showed them the parchment from Gringotts and accepted Helga and Rowena’s request to magically blood adopt him as their son, something the founders had agreed on previously as the women were unable to have their own children. His appearance didn’t change much, but there were hints that showed his new parentage. Ophion also let them know about the portrait of Aquila and promised to introduce his mates to them sometime soon.


	8. Ch 6 Main Story - History of Honwood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently working on creating an art of the Honwood crest, so hopefully that will be posted within a week or two!

After lunch, Ophion listened in fascination as the founders told him about what the school had been like during their time. There hadn’t been a train originally and boats weren’t used either usually. Instead, everyone took carriages, rode horses, or walked part of the distance after going part of the way via magical transportation. They were unable to arrive directly magically due to protective wards, though there were emergency ways out of the castle in case mundanes attacked the school. The Forbidden Forest was not forbidden either, having been a small wood with only unicorns, thestrals, and centaurs plus non magical wildlife in it. In fact, students would often go into it for classes such as Herbology and Potions, searching for plants and potion ingredients.

Ophion had been surprised to find out that the four houses also worked differently. No house point system existed and the four houses were actually different fields/career path tracks that separated after the first three years, once students had chosen electives and had a better idea of what they wanted to focus their study on. The first through third years actually had their own dormitory called Aquila after the founder’s close friend Aquila Black, the same wizard who Ophion had talked to in the portrait. He had been the first headmaster of the school and oversaw the preliminary students. 

The sorting hat wasn’t used at all by the founders except to assist students who were struggling to choose a path, and it most definitely wasn’t supposed to sing, which he had asked about after remembering the pained look on the hat’s ‘face’ during the Sorting Ceremony. According to Draco, the hat never did that when his grandfather was a student, so Dumbledore must have forced it to begin singing each year.

Helga had been strongly disappointed to hear what the new name of the school was and tugged forcefully at her braid as she explained that Honwood had been named after her brother, expressing her disgust for the mockery that had been made of his name. The Hogwarts crest was still partially accurate, with the golden H in the center and four colored segments and motto detailing an unfortunate experience by Godric, but the animals were not chosen by them. Instead, there had been symbols of the four tracks. The tracks didn’t really have official names and were referred to by the founder names, which is likely how the houses happened

Active magic (spells and charms casting, battle and defensive, creation of direct runes) was represented in the gold and crimson section by a crossed wand and sword that looked similar to Godric’s. Passive magic (divination, history, astronomy, herbology, indirect runes, imbued magic) was Helga’s with an image of a woven cloth (her specialty was threadcraft, hence her wards work now). Rowena was head of Creation magic (spell creation, potions, anything to do with making something new) with a book representing her path, and Salazar was head of Destruction and Transformation magic, which was a bit of a misnomer. (curse breaking, transfiguration, unraveling wards and other magic, taking apart spells and such, necromancy and other darker paths, alchemy, anything with spirits and such, changing magick into something else). His section held a snake in mid change with a vine as its tail.

Ophion had to return to the rest of the school before he was reported missing by his likely concerned friends, reluctantly saying goodbye to his parents for the time being and slipping down the connected corridor so he could pretend he’d simply been in his room all day. He joined Draco and Theo by the fireplace and watched as they played a game of Wizards’ Chess, but remained distracted as he thought about all the information he had learned that day. 

He joined the Slytherins in the Great Hall for dinner, missing the Headmaster’s speculative look after spotting him for the first meal that day, and talked happily with his friends about classes, which would begin the next morning. Professor Snape had given them all their schedules before they went to dinner, so Blaise was comparing everyone’s and marking down which classes they had together in an effort to make sure no one was left on their own in the corridors, which was sometimes a dangerous place for young Slytherins who became the target of older Gryffindors and occasionally Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs. Ophion resolved to ensure this changed soon and made a mental note to mention it to his parents later.

Pansy had noticed the slight changes to his appearance and asked him about them once the group was settled safely in a quiet corner of the common room. He had emerged from his room that afternoon with his dark brown hair newly threaded through with honey brown and black, something gained from Helga and Rowena’s magical blood adoption. His green eyes now held flecks of silver and his skin was milky pale and smooth except for a few stray freckles near one eye. Draco especially seemed interested in the new color variation of his hair, something he explained was usually a Black trait in Britain these days. Ophion laughed as he remembered seeing a similar hair color on Aquila’s portrait and found himself amused at the thought that he was a Black too. Which, well, he wasn’t by blood, but he still held the heir title of the house because of his godfather, something that hadn’t appeared on his test because it was unconfirmed officially by the bank, but Ragnok had explained it.

He smiled apologetically at his friends and told them he couldn’t explain the changes at the moment, but that he would let them know as soon as he could. None of them seemed happy about it but they accepted his words without protest, having experience in the practice of reluctant secrets from their families.

They were about to break apart from their group by the window and retire to their rooms when there was a dull thud on the glass behind them which looked into the murky waters of the Black Lake. Ophion turned around and came face to face with a giant red squid, who looked oddly fami-Wait a minute. He tried his best not to laugh when he realized his father had come by the Slytherin Common room to say goodnight.

Shaking his head fondly, Ophion pressed a hand to the glass and the squid mirrored him, raising a tentacle to settle against the window on the other side. The other students in the common room watched with raised eyebrows as the Slytherin heir seemed to have a wordless conversation with the squid, which clacked its beak a few times before vanishing into the depths of the lake. 

Ophion turned around with a fond smile on his face, wishing his friends good night before climbing through the door to his private dorm, where ~~Noodles~~ Basil was waiting for him on the bed, fluffy and soft with a new addition of a plush squid next to him. The squid was promptly christened Cirdog just because Ophion thought it was amusing. He got ready for bed and packed his bag with the things he would need tomorrow for classes before snuggling under the warm sheets and falling asleep, one plushie clutched in each arm.


	9. Honwood Crest - Original Design

The Honwood Academy of Magick crest, as described in the previous chapter!


	10. Ch 7 Main Story - Plots and Classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a lot of research when deciding on wands for the founders + Ophion  
> some of the founders don't have cores mentioned and that is because I couldn't decide which to use lol
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Dumbledore glared down at the empty perch. Fawkes was still missing and on top of that he now had a lot of important people asking difficult questions about where Harry Potter had disappeared. He had somehow managed to forget crucial information about the situation and had been unable to recover it despite attempting some borderline illegal methods, leaving him confused and frustrated on the matter.

After interrogating Hagrid on the matter, since he had been the one to take the Wizarding World’s precious Savior shopping, Dumbledore had gotten him to admit that he’d managed to lose Harry Potter in Diagon Alley. Apparently, the man hadn’t said anything because he didn’t want to get in trouble, but he had later received an anonymous letter that said Harry was fine. Honestly, why did he put up with the oaf again? Oh, right, because he was usually a useful pawn. That information had been carefully worded and passed along to the Minister so they could do a whole dramatic public search for the Boy Who Lived. Dumbledore was oddly certain they wouldn’t have any luck, but couldn’t say why.

His mind turned to Ophion Slytherin. Yet another problem with no obvious solution. He had planned to try and use him against Salazar in order to get information, but when he had tried to visit the Chamber, he had found the place abandoned and was promptly kicked out when he tried to do a location spell. Attempts to regain entry to the room were fruitless and ended with Dumbledore storming through the castle before remembering himself and pasting on a genial look to his face before he encountered anyone.

The boy could be useful if carefully maneuvered, but was more likely to ruin the house division that Albus had spent decades of work on, so he resolved to ruin the boy’s reputation and friendships with any students from other houses. He couldn’t have Gryffindors and Slytherins getting along after his diligent efforts to separate and create hostilities between the houses.

Forcing a smile on his face, Dumbledore donned an extravagant pair of robes and prepared for dinner. He must keep up appearances despite the difficulties of the past weekend. Reputation was very important for his work and one wrong step could send everything crashing down. That was the mistake that his brother had made, forced to abandon his mastery in favor of opening a pub after he tried to go behind his back and get him arrested for Ariana’s death.

***

Ophion carefully tucked his wand into a hidden pocket of the jacket that he was wearing underneath his school robes. His father Godric had explained that it was a good idea to always have your wand quickly available, showing him where he kept his own wand in a holster under his sleeve. His papa had agreed and added a variant of a sticking charm to ensure it wouldn’t fall out, giving him a hug before sending him off to the Slytherin Common Room to meet his friends.

During a careful trip to Ollivanders from the bank, he had been paired with a wand with a wood of birch, which was well suited to flexibility for many different types of magic, and a phoenix feather core, which apparently came from Rowena’s animagus form, known as Fawkes by most people, but who actually had no name (though Helga could be heard calling her Sparks or other variations of fire related nicknames). It had a smooth twisted handle and a straight length whose pale color gleamed faintly in the light.

Godric’s wand was made of Blackthorn and Aspen, woods usually found in the wands of warriors, and the core was heartstring from the dragon he had encountered as a youth. Ophion had been regaled with the tale last night of how the school had gained their famous motto. It was actually not as exciting as he was expected. An old dragon had been sleeping in a clearing of the forest near where he grew up and Godric had tickled the dragon with a feather on a dare, causing it to sneeze out flames which caught him on fire, ending up with him bald and moderately burned. When coming up with a motto for the school, Helga had suggested it as a joke but everyone had ended up voting for it.

Rowena had a Beech wand that was well matched to her wisdom and experience, while Helga was the proud owner of an Acacia wand, known for its talent with delicate and intricate magics. Salazar had originally had a blended wand of Ebony, Hawthorn and Fir to suit his complex and unconventional personality but had made his own wand out of snakewood and basilisk horn from his own animagus form, which tied it to him so only he and his bonded were able to use it.

The previous evening, Ophion had also been informed that his parents had decided to keep his siblings in stasis until Dumbledore was no longer a threat, now knowing all about what Dumbledore had done to his papa and him among other things. He was disappointed that he would have to wait to meet his siblings, but Ophion also secretly felt relieved, wanting to have his parents all to himself a little longer.

Stepping down through the wall, he waved to his friends who were standing over by the exit of the Common Room. His glamour was fully in place so it appeared that he was wearing pants and shoes, but in reality a mid-length fabric that served as a kind of skirt was the only thing on his lower half. The glamour was specially made for nagas to make a sort of false shell around them so people would come into contact with legs and feet not a tail, while still allowing them full control of their tail to move around. Flying class was going to be interesting for sure!

The topic of conversation this morning among his friends was none other than the missing Harry Potter, something that Ophion chose to stay out of and gave occasional noncommittal comments. He felt awkward listening to Draco and Tracey theorize what had happened to him, though Harry didn’t actually exist and Ophion Slytherin did. Pansy gave him an odd look at his uncaring manner over the subject but ultimately didn’t say anything.

Most of the first years were either too excited, too nervous, or a combination of both, to eat a proper breakfast, but Ophion made sure to at least eat some fruit and a couple slices of toast. His mates stopped by to wish him good luck in his classes and Fred sneakily slipped something into his bag as he left, which turned out to be a sweet note about having a good day and letting them know if he needed anything. Ophion smiled fondly before promptly hiding the paper before his nosy friends could get their hands on it.

He’d been looking forward to the beginning of classes in magic, something that was still super cool to him, having only known about it for a week or two, but in reality the first day of classes was mostly just taking notes and being introduced to some theory and background information. Which, well, was probably actually for the best, but that didn’t mean he had to like it!

Flying class had nearly turned into a disaster with students getting injured left and right before even getting on their brooms, but thankfully Madame Hooch had taken one look at the budding chaos and decided that the students would remain on the ground for the day. She did something to the brooms so their magic was inaccessible before having them run through drills on getting on the broomsticks and other things like proper broom care. Draco had been briefly embarrassed when told loudly that he’d been holding his broom wrong for years, but Blaise and Ophion had quickly cheered him up with jokes and pointing out the multitude of errors other students made. Some tall Gryffindor girl was the only one to be spared Hooch’s criticism by the end of class and the students were all hungry and ready for lunch, making their way speedily to the Great Hall and eating before talking at all about their morning.


	11. Ch 8 Main Story - Dangerous Meetings and a Lucky Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting interesting around Hogwarts...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updating! Last week was final exam week and I needed to focus on my classes for a little while. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter! Have a good day <3

Ophion stared at the sneering third year Gryffindor who had just handed him a piece of paper for a moment, before politely thanking him and turning back towards his meal. Fred and George, who had decided to sit at the Slytherin table with him for dinner, looked over his shoulder as he read the note. Dumbledore was apparently summoning him to his office, something Ophion was worried about. Sensing his unease, the twins offered to wait near the Headmaster’s office for him and he gratefully agreed, smiling at them.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Ophion used a secret passageway to return his things to his room before following the twins through the castle to the Headmaster’s office. The note had very unsubtly told him that the password was Lemon Drop and so he told the griffin blocking the stairs the phrase, gazing with a critical eye at the obvious proof Dumbledore was biased towards Gryffindor house. A Griffin door, honestly, if he didn’t hate the man so much he might even be amused.

After suffering through the series of power plays the Headmaster loved to enact by pretending he has some all seeing power instead of a monitoring charm to tell him who his visitor is, Ophion finally sat down in one of the chairs opposite Dumbledore’s desk and pasted a innocent and friendly look on his face.

“Ophion, my boy, I just wanted to see how you were settling in at Hogwarts. Your surname was quite the surprise at the sorting…” The man said, trailing off in an attempt to get information from him.

“I’m settling in well, thank you.” Ophion replied quietly, ignoring the second question entirely. Dumbledore was not pleased by this, going by the swiftly hidden scowl at his answer.

“I had thought that the Slytherin line died out.” Dumbledore said, eyes boring into Ophion’s skull, who was carefully avoiding direct eye contact after being informed that the man was a Leglimens and could get into his mind.

“Well, as I am here, they clearly did not.” Ophion said in response, standing and smiling politely at Dumbledore. “If there was nothing else, I have some homework I would like to get started on.” He turned to go, only to stop short as something hit him in the back.

Stumbling, his body because stiff and his mind drifted through a thickly swirling fog that had appeared in his head. Faintly, he heard someone giving him directions to act rude towards everyone except Slytherin purebloods and use the term ‘mudblood’ to refer to any muggleborns. There were more commands, but Ophion’s mind had retreated to a small corner of his head and he couldn’t quite make the words out.

Moving rigidly, Ophion exited the Headmaster’s office and made his way down the hallway, not noticing the twins until they appeared at his side, concerned at his blank face. Fred tried to take his hand, but Ophion yanked away from him and snarled, “Let me go, you filthy blood traitor. Leave me alone, I don’t want some disgusting lion near me.” 

The twins gazed at him in shock, worried at the sudden change in their mate's personality and how he didn’t seem to register them as someone he was bonded to and only as someone in Gryffindor. His parentage meant that this was most definitely not Ophion speaking. Exchanging a wordless conversation, George sprinted down the hallway to go find a capable professor for help. To his luck, he nearly collided with Professor Snape after going around a corner and hurriedly explained the situation to the man, who raced with him back towards where Ophion now had his wand pointed at Fred.

Snape uttered the incantation for a stunner swiftly, catching the boy as he fell and leaving George to check on his twin as he lifted Ophion up and carried him back to the Slytherin Common Room. The Potions professor quickly brought the boy into his office, ignoring the staring students who would need to be dealt with later.

An illegal compulsion not too different from the Imperio curse had been woven into Ophion’s magic, forcing him to enact the will of the caster, whose magical signature revealed them to be Dumbledore himself. Snape restrained the urge to send a destructive blast towards the wall at discovering the man’s actions. There would be time to deal with that later, right now he needed to focus on removing the ugly tangle of magic before it caused more damage.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard to extract the compulsion, since it had only recently been added. The longer it stayed in the magic, the more difficult it would be to remove, having attached itself more firmly to the host’s core and mind. Snape released Ophion from the stunner after double checking to make sure he’d gotten everything. He also noted the talisman hiding a creature form, filing it away for future reference but not mentioning it to the boy when he woke up. Ophion seemed very upset after learning that he had almost attacked one of the Prewitt-Black twins, something that suggested that perhaps they were the boy’s mates.

After making sure Ophion was caught up and stable, Snape released him to go back to his room and went into the Common Room to address the Slytherins before any rumors could get started. The first years who he believed to be Ophion’s friends were outraged and most of the other students also seemed furious and protective over the boy. 

Returning to his office, Severus made a copy of his memory and stored it in a secure cabinet to give the boy if and when he wanted to press charges against the Headmaster. His recognition of the magical signature would be invaluable evidence if this went to court. 

Resolving to make sure Ophion was aware that he had the memory for his use and that he could bring his head of house if the headmaster tried to summon him to his office again in the future, Snape sat down at his desk and gave a tired sigh, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he picked up a stack of paperwork he needed to finish.


	12. Ch 9 Main Story - Comfort and Reassurance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of chapter titles '~'

Ophion found himself promptly smothered in a group hug by his parents, minus Helga who unfortunately was unable to join them as she was a portrait. He had just told them what had happened with Dumbledore and Godric was clearly moments from going after the man impulsively, so he tentatively put his arms around his father. Salazar and Rowena had immediately joined the hug, enfolding him in their warm embrace.

He relaxed somewhat and squeezed Basil and Cirdog, which Ophion had decided wasn’t that great of a name after all and renamed to Sir Ruby, a name suggested by his father. The snake’s name was also adapted to be Lord Basil, though Ophion’s friends insisted on calling it Noodles still. Sad about not being able to join the hug, Helga had given him a warm golden and brown woven blanket, which she had directed Rowena to retrieve from her trunk, and the blanket was now wrapped around his shoulders.

Rowena, with the advice and additions of Helga and Godric, put together a protective charm that curled around Ophion’s wrist like a bracelet, protecting his mind from tampering. He was also given a ‘panic button’ ring in case he needed to call for help for some reason. 

The next morning, Professor Snape pulled him aside first thing in the common room and let him know about the memory waiting in his office, which Ophion promptly informed his family about. It was decided that they would leave the memory there for the time being until they had collected more evidence against the Headmaster, as he had collected enough influence to get out of a proper punishment for just the one crime.

At breakfast, Ophion rushed over to the twins when he spotted them walking into the Great Hall and started apologizing for attacking Fred, which the twins dismissed at once and insisted that he was not to blame and that it was the twinkles’ fault and no one else. They steered him over to the Slytherin table and took a seat on either side of Ophion like a Prewett-Black sandwich, offering various foods to their mate. Ophion was happy to be ambidextrous, as he could alternate eating and holding hands with George and Fred.

He enjoyed some fruit and an omelet, oblivious to the glares and mumbled threats thrown towards the head table by the rest of the Slytherin table who were focused on getting revenge on the Headmaster. Subtly, of course, they were cunning and ambitious after all and Professor Snape would not be happy if they got caught.

***

Dumbledore hummed to himself as he signed off on another paper from the School Board, allowing them to remove yet another elective from the school curriculum. Perhaps his compulsion web had been a bit strong, but if it was working just a little too well, the Headmaster certainly wasn’t going to complain.

On the other hand, his plans to spread some rumors about the Slytherin brat were not going well at all. It had only been a few days since the school year had started, but already most of the students seemed to be firmly of the opinion that Ophion Slytherin couldn’t be evil. The boy was friendly with all houses and kind to his classmates. The biggest obstacle Dumbledore could see would be his friendship with the Weasley twins, who he would’ve tried to villainize as well for their parentage if they hadn’t been so popular in the school. Hopefully the compulsion would do its job and alienate him from them as well as the rest of the students.

Focusing back on the paperwork he needed to complete before his meeting with the Minister, Dumbledore pushed thoughts of his plans to the back of his mind and settled in to read a lengthy report on History of Magic ICW standards. He didn’t notice the hateful glare directed his way by a dark haired man in an elegant portrait at the center of the former headmasters.


	13. Ch 10 Main Story - Extra Lessons and Trolls

Beginning the first weekend after classes started, Ophion was given special classes by his parents on subjects the school didn’t currently teach and also a bit of tutoring on classes he was struggling with. Thankfully, flying was not a mandatory course after the basics were taught, as Ophion had barely managed to stay on the broom during the lessons. He didn’t enjoy it at all either, preferring to stay firmly on the ground. His strongest subject within the curriculum was definitely potions, something Ophion suspected might be due to the cooking his relatives forced him to do for much of his childhood, while his weakest subject was History of Magic (through no fault of his own, the teacher was just terrible).

Rowena and Godric would work on teaching him the basics of runes and the many applications of both indirect and direct runes, while Salazar chose to focus on sensing magic and how it fit together and worked. Helga occasionally partnered with Salazar on the mage sight aspect and adapted it to help Ophion sense the wards of the castle and how enchantments and spells wove together. All four of his parents insisted on having regular exercise and defense training of both the mundane and magical kind.

Ophion enjoyed spending his free time with his friends and would often go for walks with George, Fred, or both of them. Lee would sometimes join them as well and the pranksters enjoyed telling the younger student about all the pranks they had played in the past. Draco had suggested a study group in the library with students from other houses and they now had a fairly large group consisting of students from all houses and multiple years. Pansy, Theo, Blaise, Daphne, Tracey, Draco, Ophion, Neville Longbottom, Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, and Susan Bones among others were all involved, though the list wasn’t fixed and wixen came and went from week to week.

The weather was steadily growing colder and soon the end of October had arrived, bringing with it chilly winds and leaves drifting down to land on the ground. Halloween, a holiday that Dumbledore had introduced to the school, was there and the feast that came with it brought sickening amounts of sweets and not much actual dinner. Thankfully, Ophion was able to request that healthier options be made available and Professor Snape had apparently given the house elves directions to limit the sugar intake of the Slytherin students, as much of the desserts were substantially healthier than those present at the other tables.

Ophion was just picking up a plate of fruit to pass it to Daphne when the doors of the Great Hall were suddenly flung open and Professor Quirrel came running in, stumbling over his long robes before dramatically announcing there was a troll in the dungeons and collapsing on the floor.

Dumbledore managed to silence the now-panicking crowd of students and told everyone to go back to their dormitories. Ophion exchanged incredulous looks with his housemates before promptly sitting back down at the table. Professor Snape saw the Slytherin table reseat themselves and gave an approving nod, moving to say something to Professor Sprout, who directed the Hufflepuffs to stay in the Great Hall too. Honestly, it made no sense to have the students leave a secure area to go their separate ways without teachers in the first place, let alone towards where the troll was. The Headmaster had already left the room, so he was unable to protest this. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students had both left the Great Hall following their prefects before this, so only the two houses, a few staff members and Professor Quirrel remained in the room.

A Hufflepuff prefect approached the unconscious man and carefully turned him over onto his side. Madame Pomfrey bustled over and looked Quirrel over, declaring him to be alright and that he had just passed out, likely from panic and exhaustion from running so far to warn everyone. Professor Sinistra told the two houses that they could continue their meal and took a seat at the end of the Slytherin table near the doors, while Pomfrey did the same at the Hufflepuff table and Hagrid stood in between to guard the students in case the troll managed to get to the Great Hall.

Ophion was mostly done with eating before Quirrel had arrived, so he pulled out some parchment and started making a rough draft for his Charms assignment. At one point, he looked up and looked around the room, frowning when he couldn’t spot the Defense professor anywhere, but he was distracted by Theo asking him a question and forgot about it for the moment.

Later, the teachers reappeared in the Great Hall and announced that the troll had been dealt with, surprised to see the students still there. Dumbledore seemed preoccupied and dismissed everyone to return to their dorms with an absent wave, leaving the Great Hall deep in conversation with Madame Pomfrey.

The story of what had happened rapidly circulated throughout the school, assisted by friends and siblings who had connected journals or two-way mirrors, and by the time the students went to bed, everyone had heard about how two first years, a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw, had gotten lost from their group, run into the troll and managed to knock it unconscious. Neville Longbottom had apparently hit the troll on the head with its own club and Hermione Granger had made it slip on the floor with a second year ice spell.


	14. Ch 11 Main Story - Unusual Mirrors, New Friendships, and Amusing Pranks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as I was writing this chapter, I suddenly realized I had messed up what houses Hermione and Neville were in. I sorted them into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in the sorting ceremony chapter, then referred to them both as Gryffindors later on at Halloween. That has now been changed/fixed and Hermione is a Ravenclaw while Neville is a Gryffindor, allowing them to plausibly be in the right area for the troll while still matching their personalities well.

Ophion was on his way back from the library one November weekend when he spotted a door left slightly ajar. There was a tugging sense on his magic, which Helga had taught him was usually a weak compulsion, and his steps slowed as he tried to decide what to do. Thanks to his parents, he was able to easily break out of the hold of the hostile magic, but didn’t want to reveal this to the Headmaster yet, preferring to keep him in the dark and hopefully unable to find a way around it.

Making up his mind, Ophion followed the compelling magic as if he had been ensnared, pushing open the door to find a mostly empty room. Right in the center, a tall mirror stood, with swirling script across the top. He felt a concealed presence standing in one corner and the magic felt slimy and appeared to be a sickening shade of green-brown from the glimpses Ophion got out of the corner of his eye. Dumbledore, then. 

The compulsion magic led straight to the mirror, so evidently, he was expected to look in it, which was a potentially dangerous endeavor all on its own, going off of the slowly outstretching tentacles of muddy purple magic curled around the mirror frame.

Risking a glimpse, Ophion was surprised to see himself, standing there surrounded by his parents and friends, with his mates on either side of him. His fathers were each holding a young girl, who must be his baby sisters. A smile came to his face and he was surprised to see the magic of the mirror struggling to attach itself to him, casually brushing it off as he turned and left before Dumbledore could do anything.

In the now apparently empty room, the Headmaster snarled in frustration. The mirror alone should’ve drawn the brat in and made him unable to pull himself away. Whatever he saw wasn’t enough to keep him there, but how could that information be made useful? He had hoped to discover a weakness or at least some information on the boy’s family, maybe a name or two.

His compulsion had appeared to work, but so had the last one he had placed on the brat, which hadn’t functioned properly as Ophion had not changed his behavior at all, growing even closer to his housemates and friends than before. Perhaps the boy was protected from them, but no he knew his compulsion had attached itself to him properly, so he had to have been able to throw it off by chance.

Unaware of the temper tantrum the esteemed Albus Dumbledore was currently throwing in his office, a cheerful Ophion joined his friends for their study group, greeting a new Ravenclaw girl who introduced herself as Hermione and had come with Neville. She was nice enough, but he could tell that she wasn’t the best at making friends and so endeavored to be patient with her when she accidentally was rude or otherwise off putting. Hermione eventually managed to improve and soon became a regular attendee of the study group, becoming tentative friends with most of those involved.

Back in the Slytherin common room, there was an unofficial meeting going on. A vote was called and a nearly unanimous number of those present voted to consult with the Prewitt-Black twins on their revenge on the Headmaster. Adrian Pucey volunteered to approach the twins on the matter, having a fairly good reputation amongst the other houses.

George and Fred looked at one another and grinned, “You have yourselves a deal, snakes.” George said, passing a notebook over to Adrian.

“It’s a two-way journal of sorts, we tinkered with it to allow us to pass items through it.” Fred explained, winking at the Slytherin. “Pleasure working with you.” 

Over the course of the next week, Albus Dumbledore was the victim of a variety of humorous and malicious pranks. For once, the twins had an alibi and witnesses so they couldn’t be blamed, leaving the Headmaster without a clear culprit to punish. The other staff seemed mostly amused at the barrage of pranks Dumbledore was subjected to, having been spared from turning neon shades of all of the house colors and mysteriously going bald before their arms turned into snakes and their voice was replaced by a bird chirping. The Headmaster’s wardrobe was irreparably damaged and the house elves randomly switched identities so they could appear when one another was called and mess with everyone. There was also an unfortunate incident where everything vaguely related to an important staff meeting that week was illegible to Dumbledore and if other professors tried to explain it or read it to him, it sounded like gibberish. 

Ophion watched the chaos surrounding Dumbledore with an enthusiastic smile, enjoying the man’s suffering, which was seen by the twins and Slytherins, who exchanged pleased looks and proud high fives when no one else was paying attention. Fred also made Sir Ruby a tiny gold bowtie and Lord Basil a miniature top hat, something that made Ophion laugh and hug his mate happily.


	15. Ch 12 Main Story - Winter Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hot choco  
> also Pansy go (ヘ･_･)ヘ Oops?...  
> then Ophion be like: -pokes button, causes panic- this is my fam  
> ┻━┻ ︵ ¯\\(ツ)/¯ ︵ ┻━┻
> 
> Everyone else: ( °□°) !!!
> 
> (can you tell I'm sleep deprived and half awake on caffeine??)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -le gasp- an UpDaTe?
> 
> I'm sorry its been so long since I updated!!! With classes back in session, I've not been able to find time during the day to write and when I finish my work for the day, I'm always too tired :(
> 
> Anyways, the plot is moving forwards now, wonder what else is gonna happen???
> 
> HEY THERE, YES YOU, READER, PAY ATTENTION: Give me names for a plush phoenix and a plush swan ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
> yes it probably is why you think it is
> 
> Also I was too lazy to proofread or edit after writing this, so let me know if any weird stuff is going on with typos or such

It was now mid-november and the grounds of Honwood were covered in a dusting of snow. Cheerfully colored hats and scarves were a common sight among the students and staff of the school, not only the house ones after Ophion and the twins had started a trend of wearing ridiculous or fandom related winter gear to annoy Dumbledore.

It was the weekend and Draco had insisted on most of the study group meeting to have hot chocolate together in one of the unused classrooms on the second floor, as they weren’t allowed to do so in the library where they often met.That day, Ophion had on a fluffy purple sweater with tiny goldfish swimming around via enchantment. They seemed to like the sides the most for some reason, which George found amusing and kept poking at them. Pansy was wearing a pale pink sweater with rose gold stripes, while Draco had on medium blue casual robes and everyone else had decided to wear their usual school robes.

There were seven of them in total and thankfully only his friends that day, seeing as Ophion promptly began choking on his hot chocolate after Pansy stated out of the blue, “I know you are Harry Potter.” Draco’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and only the twins reacted more calmly, having already known about this as Ophion had told them one day when they were sitting out by the lake. Fred gently patted his mate on the back until he stopped coughing.

“What-” Ophion said, eyes watering slightly from the coughing fit he’d just had. He backed up slightly in an unconscious manner, placing his back firmly against George’s shoulder as he reached for Fred’s hand in an attempt to comfort himself.

“I- sorry, that probably wasn’t the best way to go about that..” Pansy said, blushing in embarrassment. She glanced at the proximity of the twins to her friend, but decided that she’d already broken enough boundaries for the day and restricted herself to saying, “I won’t tell anyone!”

“I think you already did…” Draco said, looking at the other people in the room. Hermione and Neville thankfully didn’t seem to be overly excited about finding where the missing Savior of Wizarding Britain was, and instead were waiting quietly to see what Ophion would say.

“We won’t say anything!” Neville rushed to say, his face earnest as Hermione agreed quickly with him, eyes wide.

“Err, the truth is that Harry Potter doesn’t really exist. Not as people think, anyways. I am truly Ophion Slytherin and I was kidnapped as a newborn and placed with the Potters. I recently found out about this and managed to find my family.” Ophion said after a moment, deciding that he should probably ask his parents for help on protecting everyone from being forced to share the information and preventing any of them from telling others, even by accident. He trusted them, but it wasn’t worth the risk to leave this without ensuring the security of it.

Retrieving his ‘panic button’, Ophion pressed the button once, having decided that this probably counted as an emergency, though thankfully not of the kind that it was made for. Within minutes, Rowena, Godric, and Salazar came rushing into the room, with Helga floating along behind them in her portrait.

Stopping and assessing the room, Rowena turned to Ophion after not spotting any immediate issue. “What happened?” She questioned, ignoring the confused and shocked looks from the other occupants of the room.

“Pansy knows! She said where everyone could hear that I was Harry Potter.” He explained, twisting the fabric of his sweater in his hands as he accidentally turned the fish green in his distress.

Sighing fondly, Salazar moved to hug Ophion and said, “It was bound to happen eventually, my little snake. We can make sure nothing bad will come of it and we might as well introduce them to the rest of the secret if you trust them with it?” He finished in a question, allowing his son to choose how much would be shared.

“Alright,” Ophion agreed, turning to look at his friends and suddenly realizing this was the first time his mates would be meeting his parents. He stood up and moved to stand next to his father, saying proudly, “Fred, George, may I introduce my parents. Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, and Salazar Slytherin. Mama, papa, father, mother, these are my mates Fred and George Prewitt-Black.”

Helga smiled warmly at the twins from her painting, telling them, “I have seen you in the castle, you’re lovely boys and take good care of our Ophion.”

Going by the looks on George and Fred’s faces, knowing that the founders were Ophion’s parents was clearly different from meeting them in person. It took them a moment before they managed to muster themselves to greet his parents, who all seemed to like one another thankfully.

This was interrupted by Hermione’s exclamation, “What! Your parents are the founders? But they died hundreds of years ago? And there’s four of them? How can that be possible?” She said, thankfully not looking judgmental but merely curious.

Rowena smiled at her and said, “We placed ourselves into a stasis of sorts in order to be here if we were needed in the present. Helga’s body died centuries ago, yes, but the rest of us are still alive. As for there being four of us, Magic allowed Helga and I to adopt Ophion as we are unable to have children of our own. That is why his appearance has changed slightly from when you first saw him. Salazar was his bearer and Godric his sire.” Hermione nodded and sat down on her chair again, writing on a piece of paper she had pulled from her bag.

The others had shaken off their stupor at this point and soon there was a lively conversation going as his friends got to know about the true Honwood before Helga and Rowena teamed up to set up a protective ward on the information. It tingled as the magic settled over all of them and Ophion scrunched up his nose at the odd sensation, leading Draco to boop his nose playfully and laugh at the disgruntled expression on his friend’s face.

The information contained also included the matter of creatures, so Ophion chose to remove his talisman while the twins removed whichever glamour they had been using along with the charm Salazar had used. He normally didn’t conceal his tail as the founders spent most of their time in the private apartments they shared, but must have hastily thrown one on when they rushed to find Ophion.

It was the first time he had seen his mates without the magic obscuring their creature attributes and so he took his time visually exploring the black furry ears and fluffy tails that Fred and George now had. The twins did the same with his tail, George asking curiously if could touch it, to which Ophion retorted only if he could pet their ears. For some reason, this made both twins turn bright red and Godric started coughing from where he was talking with Neville. Ophion was promptly informed by his papa that this was usually something sexual for kitsunes and blushed as well, knowing that they were way too young for that.

After about an hour, Helga informed everyone that it was getting close to lunch time, smiling and waving goodbye to all of the students as they gathered their things and filed out the door. Rowena picked up the painting from where it had been propped up against a stack of books on the dusty teacher’s desk and looked at her bonded fondly, carrying her along as Godric and Salazar cleaned up and exited the room as well. 


	16. Ch 13 Main Story - Holidays and Presents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday! (or whatever day you are reading this)
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter of copious gift descriptions and sprinkling of humor, not much plot in this one, that's coming next time ;)

Soon Yule was upon the school and Ophion was practically vibrating with excitement, as this was the first time he would be able to properly celebrate the holiday and with his family too! He’d been anxious about getting gifts for his friends and family, but a conversation with Draco had calmed him down immensely. His best friend’s advice had been to make something for his parents, who had missed most of his childhood, and give his friends useful things, also including with a wink a hint that he would love a new quill.

The two had grown closer over the course of the fall and start of winter and Ophion had confided some of his bad childhood in Draco, who knew the most about it other than his parents, who had insisted on knowing where he’d grown up and promptly started making plans to get revenge on the Dursleys for their neglect when they thought he wasn’t around. He’d overheard them one time when he’d returned to his room to collect his potions book, which he’d left behind accidentally.

In return, Ophion had learned about Draco’s family and childhood. His relationship with his parents wasn’t exactly bad, but they could be cold and impersonal. Several of his other friends also didn’t have the best of childhoods, so this was a factor in pulling them closer together. Neville and Theo especially got on well together, bonding over their despised grandparents who were never satisfied with them no matter how hard they worked.

Since Hogsmeade wasn’t an option until third year, Ophion ordered most of his presents by owl and handmade the ones for his parents as suggested. He stuck to useful gifts such as quills and gloves for his friends, with some candy added for his closer circle, those who knew his secrets. Not being much of an artist, his parents’ presents ended up being a flowerpot he’d decorated himself complete with alliums for Helga, a notebook with half-decent custom decor of phoenixes for Rowena, an origami giant squid complete with a smiley face for Godric, and a bookmark that said in Ophion’s untidy scrawl ‘Venomous, not poisonous’ for Salazar. Ophion even got a small present for Professor Snape, having spotted a crimson ink while flipping through an owl-order catalogue that he thought the man would love. The others had joined his extra lessons since having discovered his identity and were each given a wand holster for Yule by the founders, decorated with their initials in elegant embroidered letters.

Only Pansy, Draco, Ophion, and Gemma Farley were staying at the school that year for the winter holiday in Slytherin, so they sat down in the corner by the fireplace together and talked quietly while waiting for Professor Snape to finish scanning the presents that were neatly stacked into piles for each of them. 

Usually it was just a precaution, but this year a package on Ophion’s pile lit up like the sun when Snape cast a detective spell and was carefully levitated away by their Head of House. The wrapping paper itself was fine, but the candy inside the unlabeled gift was laced with harmful potions which reeked of a certain headmaster’s magical signature. 

Explaining this to the students, none of whom had any love for Dumbledore, Snape deposited the gift neatly in the same cupboard as the memory and cleared the eager Slytherins to open their presents before they would go down to breakfast. While they were grabbing one to start, Aquila appeared in his portrait and wished them a Merry Yule, smiling fondly at Ophion. He had been spying on the headmaster for the founders and had been linked to an additional portrait located in the common room of their private rooms. Unfortunately, he hadn’t discovered anything much yet, but Ophion wasn’t complaining, as he’d like to enjoy a peaceful holiday.

Pansy and Hermione had sent Ophion a nice notebook with his initials on it and a pen with Honwood colored stripes as a joint gift, while Neville gave Ophion a mug with a picture of a snake labeled ‘Danger Noodle’ on it, something that made him laugh. Theo and Blaise had given everyone more impersonal gifts like candy and new quills, except for Draco who they gave a blobfish pin with the caption ‘Not really’ which the blonde refused to explain to his friends. His father Godric gave him a knife with a snake handle, promising to start training him in more battle magic, while Salazar gifted Ophion a book on naga which he had to remove several curses from before it was safe to let his son touch.

A lot of people seemed to have either had the same idea or collaborated on presents for him as Ophion received a grand total of five new plush animals. His mothers had given him a phoenix and swan each, which were promptly titled Lady Ashia and Lady Harmony respectively, while Draco had given him a stuffed albino peacock along with a note about stealing one from Malfoy Manor for the school if he wanted. The peacock gained the name of Dalinda, with a nickname of Dali. Even the twins had been in on this plan, giving him a pair of black foxes. One had a small red and gold scarf that Fred had made, while the other had a silver ribbon tied around its neck by George. The scarf-wearing fox was dubbed Phantom and the other Raven.

After opening all of his presents from his parents and friends, there was one package left and Ophion picked it up curiously, unable to stop the warm smile on his face when he saw that it was from the twins’ Aunt Molly. There was a kind card wishing him a wonderful holiday and welcoming him to the family. Inside the packaging, he found a warm green sweater and some homemade fudge.

Looking around, Ophion saw that the others had all finished their unwrapping as well, and got up, picking up his presents and carefully putting them in the magically expanded bag Professor Snape had provided all of them, along with the folded remnants of the wrapping paper. He wanted to keep them as a reminder of his first Yule and had been meticulous in opening his gifts without damaging the fragile paper.

He lined the plushies up on his bed next to Sir Ruby and Lord Basil, patting them each on the head and grinning like a fool before rejoining the others in the common room to head to breakfast. Fred and George were sitting on the very end of the large table that had replaced the house tables for the holiday and waved him over cheerfully. Lee joined them moments later, announcing his presence in the form of yanking a hat with cute snake fangs sticking out of the bottom hem over Ophion’s head with a playful laugh. Disgruntled, Ophion removed the hat and tried to return his inky hair to a semblance of order. He didn’t really succeed, going by the amused looks on Pansy and Draco’s face across the table from him. 

Looking down at the hat in his hands, Ophion smoothed the green fabric out and almost dropped it in surprise when the hat emitted a hiss which sounded like ‘Banana’ to him. Cautiously repeating the movement revealed that the hat had been charmed to make hissing sounds, which were highly amusing to him as they sounded like random words to him. For example, poking at the sewn nose slits produced the sentence of ‘Stupid pineapple coherant gratitude sun’

Tucking the hat into his school bag and thanking Lee for his present, Ophion turned his focus towards the delicious stack of pancakes George had deposited on his plate while he was distracted, adding some strawberries and a small mountain of whipped cream before digging in.


	17. Ch 14 Main Story - Suspicious Teachers and New Alliances

The winter holiday passed with no further attempts by the Headmaster to interfere with Ophion, but this seemed to be replaced by Dumbledore’s current focus on Professor Quirrel. Now that he thought about it, Ophion realized that the DADA teacher had been acting odd all year and remembered the Halloween incident that he had forgotten about at the time. Suspicions raised, he promptly went to his parents and told them about Quirrel and Dumbledore’s sudden attention towards him.

Godric frowned as he listened to Ophion, saying after a moment, “It’s likely that Quirrel was the one who let in the troll as a distraction of some kind. He must’ve failed in whatever he wanted, then, if he continues to lurk around the school.”

Rowena nodded in agreement, adding, “We should talk to Professor Snape. You said he seems to keep a close eye on Quirrel, too.”

The expression on Snape’s face was sure to be interesting when the founders spontaneously showed up at his office. Thankfully, Salazar remembered that the Potions professor wasn’t aware of Ophion’s true circumstances yet and made sure that they had the man swear an oath like the students had.

An hour and a conversation with a tired looking Snape later, Ophion returned to the Slytherin Common Room reassured that the adults would take care of the situation. He relaxed into the soft green sofa and pouted as his napping spot was promptly disturbed by an energetic Draco, who poked him until he agreed to play Exploding Snap with him.

Elsewhere in the castle, Professor Snape set a timer for two hours, needing a nap before he could do any of the various things piled on him, by multiple groups, some of which even conflicted with each other. He spared a moment to curse Dumbledore for forcing him into this situation as a spy.

***

Ophion grinned as he greeted his friends, sitting down in the last available chair in their study room. The students who had gone home for break had all returned the previous afternoon and it was nice to catch up with Theo, Blaise, and Daphne among others. The older Slytherin students didn’t seem to know what to make of Ophion these days, giving him calculating looks when they thought he wasn’t aware. His friendliness with all houses was definitely unusual for a Slytherin, something he strongly wanted to change.

He frowned a bit as he wondered if he’d been sorted into Slytherin because of his parentage, but quickly dismissed that thought as it would’ve conflicted with Gryffindor in that case. Ophion thought back to what the hat had said and bit his lip as he considered the short conversation they’d had. Plenty of ambition, but the hat hadn’t said towards what. Ambition to regain his family and return the school to its former glory? To make friends and have family?

Someone poked his arm and he looked up, pulled from his thoughts, to see a grinning George slip something into his pocket with a wink before returning to his seat next to Hermione. Investigating the mysterious gift revealed a short note saying, Eat this if you want to be safe from our next prank, along with a small green taffy candy.

Ophion raised an eyebrow but did as George had directed him, trusting his mates. The taffy tingled on his tongue but nothing obvious happened to him, right away that is. It was rather obvious what the taffy did a few minutes later as the group made their way down the stairs only to have pink sparkly goop rain down on them out of nowhere. The staircases were crowded as many students and teachers were heading down to lunch and only Ophion and the twins were spared. Draco in particular shrieked as his blonde hair turned a lovely shade of salmon and turned to the twins with outrage in his eyes, vowing to get back at them for this.

Fred only smiled and patted the goopy Draco on the head before grabbing George and Ophion by the hand and racing down the stairs past greatly annoyed wixen, careful not to trip or fall. Ophion let out a startled laugh as Fred levitated the trio down the last set of stairs, avoiding a large puddle of goop that had collected on the landing. His fond smile was immediately dimmed as a furious Dumbledore stormed down the stairs towards them, making a beeline for the trio who stood out as they weren’t dyed pink and glittery.

Swallowing nervously, Ophion backed up until he was pressed against George’s side and felt blindly for Fred’s hand. The Headmaster scared him and he was glad that he wasn’t alone. The twins stood up to their tallest height, angled protectively towards Ophion, as they stared down Dumbledore.

“That will be 50 points from Slytherin and 20 points from Gryffindor. A month of detention for you, Slytherin.” Dumbledore said, barely keeping a snarl off his face. The brat thought he could embarrass him and get away with it, not on his watch!

Nearby professors and students alike stared incredulously at Dumbledore, seeing the unequal punishment clearly. Ophion was well-liked by the residents of the castle, despite the Headmasters attempts to villainize and isolate him, so Dumbledore couldn’t get away with dumping punishment on this particular Slytherin as he’d managed with others in the past.

McGonagall emerged from the crowd and cleared her throat, saying, “I think 20 points per student from each house would be fair. And perhaps a week of detention for all three.” She stared down the Headmaster, who was forced to concede with a scowl as he realized public opinion was against him.

The twins grinned at McGonagall and said, “Thanks, McG!” They practically skipped off into the Great Hall, missing the fondly rolled eyes of the Transfiguration professor. Ophion scrunched up his nose and looked at the twins from across the table where they were sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Hermione for lunch.

“Thanks a lot, you too. I appreciate not being in the middle of the goop, but now I have detention.” He said, pouting before sighing and shaking his head.

Fred looked sheepish and scratched his head before apologizing, “Sorry, didn’t think of how that would look. You think McG might be willing to cancel it if we told her you weren’t involved?” 

Ophion smiled but replied, “No, I think it's the best I could’ve hoped for, with Dumbledore involved. Even though I wasn’t part of the prank, he wouldn’t let me escape some sort of punishment.”

George nodded in agreement and offered Ophion an orange slice, apologizing himself as the Slytherin accepted it and ate the fruit. “Yeah, sorry for not giving you more warning or thinking that through better.”

Hermione rolled her eyes at the trio and cleared her throat loudly, having been hit by the pink goop herself. “Any chance you could get this stuff off me? I don’t fancy trying to remove this gunk from my hair.” She asked, frowning at the twins.

“Yeah, of course.” George said, passing her a taffy like he had given Ophion.

Hermione eyed it dubiously for a moment before sighing and eating it, reaching up to touch her ruined curls and smiling in relief when her fingers didn’t find sparkle-filled slime. “Thanks.”

Draco, having seen Hermione eat something and then all of the pink goop on her vanish, made a beeline for the table and stood there silently, with an eyebrow raised. George rolled his eyes and passed the blonde a taffy, telling him that he could get revenge later and to sit down and eat his lunch. Somewhat mollified, Draco nodded grumpily and sat down on the bench with a dull thud, scanning the table and grabbing a couple ham sandwiches for himself. Ophion smiled fondly as he looked at his friends, who had soon been joined by Neville and Lee. He was so glad to have met all of them.


	18. Temporary Hiatus Until April 1st

I'm struggling to balance updating RoS, HU, and LiD all at the same time right now, so HU as the one I'm having the most trouble with has been placed on hiatus until April 1st, giving me a chance to zero in on RoS and hopefully complete it entirely :)

Sorry to everyone who was looking forward to updates during February and March lol

Have a good day and please stay safe <3

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that the original idea was not actually used entirely, I added lots of things and took out a few


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